The Russian Riddle: Stalin's Deadly Date With Destiny (Posse Series)

It began with injustice—Stalin murdered Ana Cortez's parents, idealists caught up in his purges, and assumed Ana, a mysterious Mexican woman with a Russian obsession and thirty-six years his junior, would marry him to produce a communist dynasty to rule the world. When she flees dystopian Moscow, his secret police relentlessly pursue her. In a desperate game of hide and seek that stretches over decades and two continents, she eludes them. She is up against a brutal dictator, the international resources of Soviet Russia, and loneliness. She is mighty stubborn, awfully creative, but the odds are against her, and her luck always seems to be about to run out. She finds refuge in Texas, marries, and puts the Stalinist nightmare behind her. However, Stalin's goons show up and corner her in a bar in San Marcos in 1953. Edgar Kelly, a US superspy codenamed the Sheriff, and his Posse come to her rescue and join her in returning to Moscow to deliver justice to Stalin. The USSR, Stalin, and his police were never the same. Against the factual background of the 19 30s, World War II, and the Cold War, The Russian Riddle, beautifully set in Mexico, Texas, and Russia, sizzles with jaw-dropping twists and turns. It will make you laugh, cry, and sit on the edge of your seat—an epic story that validates the importance of roots, law, justice, and traditional values. It is the first novel in the Posse Series and introduces Kelly, the Posse, and Ana Cortez.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Dennis J. Dunn graduated from John Carroll University and received a PhD in history from Kent State University. He taught at Texas State University where he was named a Regents and University Distinguished Professor of History. His research interests include books on the Catholic Church in Soviet Russia, American-Soviet relations, and the relationship between politics and religion in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His book entitled Caught Between Roosevelt and Stalin: American Ambassadors in Moscow (1998; Russian ed., 2004) was nominated for the best book on American diplomacy by the American Academy of Diplomacy and was featured on C-SPAN and at the Moscow book Fair. The Russian Riddle: Stalin's Deadly Date with Destiny draws upon his deep interest in the history of World War II, the Cold War, the rich Anglo-Hispanic culture of Texas, the Catholic Church, and Russia. His website is dennisjdunn.com. He lives in Texas with his family.